The Immigrants of West
South Midwood
by Joe Enright
Immigration has been much discussed
this Presidential election year. Some proposals advanced to stem
illegal border crossings have recalled some darker periods in
our history, particularly the 1882 ban against the Chinese signed by
Chester A. Arthur, probably the most forgettable President in
American history. In 1892, as immigration swelled to
unprecedented levels, Ellis Island was opened to weed out anarchists,
criminals, the sick, the crazy and presumably some Asians. But by
1910, almost 15% of Americans were foreign-born, with Brooklyn at 35%
and Manhattan at an amazing 48% level. Today, 37% of Brooklynites
are still immigrants, including a substantial number from China.
 |
| Brooklyn Chinese-American Family Reading Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 |
But what about West South Midwood,
which is what Argyle Heights was called for the first five decades of
its existence? Were we brimming with immigrants in our early days?
To answer that question I consulted census records, which collected
the birthplace and US-entry date of every resident and their parents.
1910 would have been the first census conducted here because only
six years earlier we were still an uninhabited woody tract on the
western end of the John A. Lott farm, recently purchased by the
Germania Real Estate and Improvement Company.
 |
| Part of the 1910 "Enumeration" of West South Midwood. Note the Street Names Scrawled Sideways in Far Left Margin. |
This research proved to be time
consuming because the census-takers – officially called enumerators
– scrawled the street name sideways on the edge of their forms,
printing only the house number in the address column. That dumb
format has forever prevented scanning into databases the most
important piece of data (for me, anyway): the exact location of a
resident. The closest surrogate to an address that was searchable
turned out to be the Ward number, a political subdivision that was
abandoned in New York more than 80 years ago. Now safely filed in my
brain under “Information You Will Never Need to Know Again. Ever”
is that West South Midwood was in the 31st
Ward. I thought that factoid would be a great help until I
discovered the 31st Ward encompassed all of Brooklyn south
of Foster Avenue to Coney Island. Oy vey, the frustration! Frankly
the only thing that kept me going was the thought that the West
Midwood Newsletter would probably pay big bucks for this story.
 |
| Per map below Ward 31 Was Equivalent to the Town of Gravesend (Maps courtesy of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society) |
 |
| Gravesend was annexed to the City of Brooklyn in 1894. The tip of its spear - where it met Flatbush - was East 17th St. and Foster Ave. Its western border was Gravesend Avenue, renamed McDonald Avenue in 1933 to honor "a now-forgotten Brooklyn alderman who had died suddenly, having choked on a chicken bone" (http://forgotten-ny.com/2008/04/forgottentour-33-gravesend-brooklyn/). |
In the end I was able to chronicle 203
households in West South Midwood (if you consider the north side of
Avenue H to be the border) and 51 more in what was then Oak Crest
(expanding the border to the LIRR cut). There were 44 buildings with
multiple households while on the other hand some addresses were
simply not found, most likely because they were temporarily
unoccupied during the census canvass, or had yet to be built. For
instance, in 1910 the future site of the church on Argyle Road was
still an empty lot, as was the southeast corner of Glenwood Road and
Coney Island Avenue. And Marlborough Court was then a vacant patch,
not graded or added to the city's street grid until 1914.
Well, here now the news: 78% of the 254
combined households of West South Midwood and Oak Crest had a
foreign-born occupant and/or at least one resident with a
foreign-born parent. If you don't have time to wander through the
complete list I am uploading as Part 9 of this series ("1910 Census Data for 254 Households in West South Midwood And Oak Crest") here are some interesting facts:
·
21 different countries of origin were found for the
immigrants who owned or rented our houses. Germany (39), England
(22), Canada (16), and Ireland (14) accounted for the most.
·
33 different states were represented among the
birthplaces of our non-immigrants, but only two hailed from the Rocky
Mountain or Pacific time zones.
·
67 foreign-born maids were living in our households
(one family, at 1121 Glenwood Road, even had two). Norway, Ireland,
Sweden and Finland accounted for 41 “servants” (the official
census term) – most arriving in the U.S. during the decade before
the census. And 18 more homes had African-American maids, the
majority of whom were born in Virginia.
·
Most
home-owners were in their 30s and 40s. The oldest resident turned 81
in 1910, and only three others were older than 70. And, underscoring
the reduced life expectancy of a century ago (almost half of what it
is today), 45 households had at least one occupant who was widowed. We found only one divorced person.
·
The single biggest employer of our residents was the
City of New York: 9 school teachers and 10 public servants were
found, ranging from a police officer to a “City Hall messenger”.
The 11 attorneys in general practice represented the most commonly
found profession, followed closely by retail shop owners, traveling salesmen, and
bookkeepers. Of interest, three residents made their living from the
burgeoning motion picture industry and we had two stage actors, three
book and magazine publishers, a newspaper reporter, an editor, and
even a cartoonist. Some occupations have long since disappeared,
among them, telegraph operators (we had two), a “wagon materials”
salesman, and a “lecturer on temperance”.
 |
| Argyle Heights, The Neighborhood Formerly Known As West Midwood, F/K/A West South Midwood |
Finally, it would
be hard to present individual household stories without taking up the
entire Newsletter but here's one I couldn't resist reporting: The
owner of the two family house at 745 Westminster Road was John
Vagts, who was born in Germany in 1840 and immigrated to New York in
1857 where he met his wife, Sophie, herself the daughter of German
immigrants, and they married in 1873. Vagts owned a butter store at
235 Fulton Street in lower Manhattan which produced enough income for
him to get a mortgage in 1905 and buy his T. B. Ackerson home for
$10,000 – about $262,000 in today's coinage. Even then, he was
probably dependent on rental income from his ground floor tenants to
make ends meet. Unlike their neighbors, the Vagts had no maids.
 |
| 745 Westminster Road |
But
they did have an interesting story that unfolded in 1909 when their
30 year old daughter, Margaret, moved into the home with her two
children. It seems her husband of 14 years, Joseph Van Winkle, with
whom she had been residing at 2714 Glenwood Road in South Midwood,
had disappeared. Van Winkle was Brooklyn's Deputy Tax Commissioner and a well-liked member of the Cortelyou Club, located on
Bedford Avenue between Newkirk and Avenue D. But on Washington's
Birthday in 1909 he left his house and was never seen again.
 |
| Cortelyou Club On Bedford Ave Near Avenue D in 1910 |
 |
| Glenwood Rd At Flatbush Ave in 1910. Van Winkles Resided in a Row House on Left |
When
the story of his disappearance ran in the press, a widow named Katie
Lauer (another German immigrant) came forward, suggesting that Van
Winkle had run off with her daughter, Ernestine, a 24 year old music
teacher, who was also active in the Cortelyou Club. The mother
remembered a distinguished gentleman caller named Joe who frequently
came to see “Tina”. As news of the scandal spread, Van Winkle's
father, Asa, an orchestral musician, placed a personal ad in the
Brooklyn
Eagle,
imploring his son to come home and all would be forgiven. But public
records indicate that after waiting more than 10 years, Margaret, who
had become a manger for the National Surety Company, divorced the
disappeared Van Winkle. And neither Ernestine nor Joe were ever
heard from again. There
were 253 other stories in West South Midwood in 1910. See Part 9 for the entire list (http://argyleheights.blogspot.com/2016/06/early-chronicles-part-9-1910-census.html).
 |
1906 Cortelyou Club Program Lists
Henry A. Meyer As First Trustee. Meyer Was President of Germania Real Estate And
Improvement Which Purchased The Lott Farm Which Extended from Flatbush Avenue to Coney Island Avenue. Also
Note James Van Winkle – Cousin of Joseph. The Club Had 400 Members
in 1910.
|
Some Photos and Notes and Stuff
The 1910 Census
One of the questions asked during this census was whether a resident was a Civil War vet and if so, with which Army or Navy (per https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1910.shtml). Unfortunately, in Ward 31, that data was not collected. Instead the column was used by reviewers in Washington to tabulate data on the page. Bummer.
Here's a summary of the spreadsheet posted as Part 9 of the Early Chronicles of West South Midwood:
| Country |
Maids |
Oak Crest Maids |
WSM Owners/Renters |
Oak Crest Owners/ Renters |
TOTAL Owners/Renters Total |
Grand Total |
| Germany |
3 |
|
33 |
6 |
39 |
42 |
| Ireland |
12 |
1 |
11 |
3 |
14 |
26 |
| England |
1 |
|
18 |
4 |
22 |
23 |
| Canada |
|
|
10 |
6 |
16 |
16 |
| Norway* |
15 |
|
|
|
|
15 |
| Sweden |
9 |
|
4 |
|
4 |
13 |
| Austria |
4 |
|
4 |
|
4 |
8 |
| Russia |
5 |
|
3 |
|
3 |
8 |
| West Indies |
3 |
|
4 |
|
4 |
7 |
| Finland* |
5 |
2 |
|
|
|
5 |
| Hungary |
3 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
5 |
| Denmark |
2 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
4 |
| Holland |
|
|
|
4 |
4 |
4 |
| Poland* |
4 |
|
|
|
|
4 |
| Italy |
|
|
3 |
|
3 |
3 |
| Scotland |
|
|
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
| France |
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| India |
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Belgium |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
| Columbia |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Cuba |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
| Peru |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
| Syria |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
| Totals |
64 |
3 |
102 |
26 |
128 |
195 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Maids |
67 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Owners |
128 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Foreign Born |
195 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Countries represented by maids only |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Location of the Cortelyou Club
Some
modern writers have claimed the Club was located on Cortelyou Road.
Wrong. Compare the post card below left with the 2015 Google Maps
photo of the southeast corner of Avenue D and Bedford Avenue on the right and tremble
before me, mere mortals!
 |
| Cortelyou Club in 1908--Note Brick House to Far Right |
 |
| Same Brick House Today, One Door South of Corner of Ave D and Bedford Ave |
West South Midwood Scenes, 1907-1915
 |
| 1907: LIRR and Coney Island Ave Trolley Intersection (looking north and east up Coney) |
 |
| 1907: LIRR and Coney Island Ave Trolley Intersection (looking due north up Coney) |
 |
| 1907: LIRR and Coney Island Ave Trolley Intersection (looking north and west up Coney) |
 |
| 1907: LIRR and Coney Island Ave Trolley Intersection (looking east toward West South Midwood) | ) |
 |
| 1907: LIRR and Coney Island Ave Trolley Intersection (looking east to rear of houses on Westminster visible in distance) |
 |
| 1911: Avenue H and southeast corner of East 15th St |
 |
| 1911: Avenue H (south side) between E 15th and Brighton Station |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road (north side) looking east from Rugby Road toward Brighton cut |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road (north side again) looking east from Rugby Road toward Brighton cut |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road (south side) looking east from Rugby Road to footbridge over Brighton cut. The span was removed circa 1970 and the brick base was removed circa 1990. |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road looking west and north to Coney Island Ave from Westminster Road. Steepled roof on right is still there. |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road looking due west to Coney Island Ave from Westminster Road |
 |
| 1911: Glenwood Road, north side, looking west to Coney Island Ave from Westminster Road |
 |
| 1911: Rugby Road, west side, looking south from Glenwood Road to Avenue H |
 |
| 1915:
Avenue H and East 15th Street in West South Midwood Which Is Labeled
"Fiske Terrace" on This Post Card. Adopting Argyle Heights as our Name
Would End 111 Years of Mis-identification. |
It appears that electric trolleys, street level and elevated, were the preferable means of transport in 1910, with local roads, mostly strewn with dirt, predominantly used by horse-drawn carriages.
1910: A Slice of Brooklyn Life
The
marvelous restored photograph below has been sliced and diced to show
scenes outside the Long Island Railroad Terminal at Atlantic and
Flatbush Avenues on a warm day: the elevated train had no windows...the
streets are remarkably clean...a newsstand advertises the Brooklyn Eagle...an
ad on the landing leading to the "EL" shows a play at the Brighton
Music Hall. In any event, the major factor that brought people to the
emerging suburbs of Brooklyn was transportation. In a decade of
minuscule car ownership, the key was the electrification of surface and
elevated lines that connected Brooklyn to lower Manhattan via the
Brooklyn (1883), Williamsburg (1903) and Manhattan (1909) bridges.
 |
| 1910: NYC Elevated Train Above; LIRR Entrance at Ground Level. Everyone Is Wearing A Hat. |
 |
| Close-Up of the Landing Below the EL. Ad On Left for Brighton Music Hall (Replaced By Brighton Beach Baths). |
 |
| Same Photo Showing What I Cropped from Above Version. Brick Structure in Foreground Still Stands - See Photos Below. |
 |
| Compare And Contrast. Missing from Both 1910 and 2015 Photos? The Endless Vehicular Traffic. |
|
|
 |
| 1912 Painting By John Sloan, "Six O'Clock Winter". Based on Atlantic Terminal Milieu? |
